A Tale of Two Kingdoms

A History of the Church of Scotland from the Reformation to the Glorious Revolution

Dr. Jeff Spitler

Sir, as diverse times before, so now again I must tell you there are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland;
there is Christ Jesus and His Kingdom the Kirk, whose subject King James the Sixth is, and of whose Kingdom
he is not a king, nor a head, nor a lord, but a member; and they whom Christ has called, and commanded to
watch over His kirk and govern His spiritual kingdom, have sufficient power of Him and authority so to do,
both together and severally, the which no Christian King nor prince should control and discharge, but
fortify and assist, otherwise not faithful subjects, not members of Christ.

Andrew Melville to James the Sixth (First) in 1596

This class will attempt to tell the story of two kingdoms in Scotland: Christ's Kingdom, the Church, and that kingdom which also belongs to Christ, but is ruled by the civil magistrate. Man, in his fallen state, is often tempted to assert his autonomy over God. For the civil magistrate, the temptation often takes the form of extending his dominion beyond its proper boundaries.

We will cover the period between the first reformation (mid-1500's) and the Glorious Revolution (1688). During this time, the struggles between the civil magistrates (Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart, and the Stewart Kings) and the Church were particularly intense. Ultimately, the Church's testimony that it would have no King but Christ was sealed with the blood of many martyrs.

Much of the freedom that we enjoy today is a direct or indirect result of this testimony. Of course, the temptation faced by the civil magistrate has not gone away -- it is still with us today in perhaps more subtle, but still very insidious forms.

The objectives of the class are:

To recount some of God's mighty works in history, and by doing so, to familiarize ourselves with our own denomination's history.

To challenge our thinking related to history, worship, church polity, church-state relations, etc. We, like all men,
are men of our times. By studying church history, we hope to see things from another perspective and be challenged to return to God's Word, so that, ultimately, we might bring "every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."